I’ve come across a bunch of accusations that religions cause war. Some would go further to say all religions have ever contributed to the world is war. Some would even say that all wars were caused by religious ideas.

I can agree that wars are caused by conflicting ideas. When one group says slavery is wrong and another group says it’s fine because they’re “not human”, they’re going to clash.

This is how wars start. Sometimes, the idea is religious in nature. But all the time, it simply needs to be an idea. It can be secular or religious in nature.

Ownership of a piece of land, for example. One country might say it’s theirs. Another will claim it belongs to them. Clashing ideas need not be religious in nature to create a war.